July 27, 2008

Hobbies

So, I don't know what's going on with me lately, but I seem to be in a hobby frenzy. I've been listening to classical guitar for a few years now, and last fall I decided I wanted to learn to play guitar. My lovely wife was kind enough to get me an Alvarez acoustic guitar for christmas, which I played around with infrequently until two months ago.

Billy Cain over at Critical Mass has inspired me to practice regularly, which I've bene doing. I feel sorry for my family as I pick my way through "Yankee Doodle Dandy," but at least I can hear some improvement.

I also enjoy RC hobby activities (remember my plane from 2002? I bought a cheap-o monster truck right before Xmas last year, and it conked out pretty quickly, but I really wanted one to tear around in the big back yard and the park...so last week I dropped way too much money at Hobbytown USA and bought a TRAXXAS E-Maxx. It looked like this when I bought it:

The thing is awesome. Fast. 4X4. Just plain mean. I had a problem with one of the battery packs, but the folks at Hobbytown USA replaced it without much trouble (thanks Chuck). So I was jumping off of a big pile of sand today and on my 9th or 10th run...well...I missed the pile and hit a large stone retaining wall. So now I'm a serious hobbiest. I get to fix it.

Yesterday, I spent some time with a local Halloween group at a "make and take" with Chuck, my father in law. We're building talking skeletons, so we spent most of yesterday soldering the circuit boards that will control the audio and servos. Very cool. Both of ours boards tested out okay. Pictures forthcoming.

Posted by SunSword at 07:16 PM | Comments (0)

June 19, 2007

Message from the Gods?

Well, after a few months of being back in the good ol' US of A, my family is finally settling into our new home. You'll know it when you see it. It's the one with the blue tarp on the roof...y'know, the kind you put on your roof three days after you've moved in to your brand new home because IT GOT STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. Good thing I'm not a superstitious kinda guy. I'll post pictures tomorrow.

With the family settling in, and one good cook-out on the new deck under my belt, I'm finally getting back into the groove. It's amazing how unsettled you can get (professionally/creatively) when your environment is in flux.

Just having a reliable Internet connection and a dual monitor setup can make a huge difference. And my goodness, how about that 10Mb Internet connection!?!

Okay, enough life stuff. Here are a few notes for you folks out there who want to make a virtual world:

1) Socializing is not a core mechanic. You'd best have a great reason for people to be in your 3D representation of whatever you're representing. People do the socializing part naturally.

2) Learn from the games business. Don't make all the same mistakes the games business went through while figuring out how to run and operate online services. Leverage the hard won lessons of battles long over.

3) Invest in quality technology. There are lots of folks out there saying they can give you a virtual world solution for a dime and a piece of string. They lie. You get what you pay for.

4) "THREE DEE" is not the new web. The web is much better at doing some things than a monolithic 3D application. Play to the strengths of 3D applications and let the web do its thing.

Want to know more?

Posted by SunSword at 08:55 AM | Comments (3)

February 18, 2007

I really was a child actor...if you call it acting...

So...remember THIS post?

Well...just to confirm some of what I said...I give you me. In the '80s. *sigh*

Here's the link.

Will I ever live this down? No.
The commercial was an all day shoot, the day before thanksgiving. I got paid $600 to do it, and most of the day was spent playing video games while waiting for the crew to setup the shot. The most memorable thing about this experience? Playing the stand up version of "Discs of Tron" for about 2 straight hours. Awesome.

Posted by SunSword at 09:32 PM | Comments (1)

February 07, 2007

I feel a Heatwave comin' on... (holy cr4p, what have I done???)

The past two or three weeks have been incredibly busy and because of the nature of that bustle, I really haven't had much opportunity to talk about what I'm up to.

Last month, I blathered on about how I was going to make some big changes and things are going to change. I was serious.

Last Friday was my last day at Codemasters. I've started a new company called "Heatwave Interactive, Inc.", as a vehicle to bring great games to the masses and "right" some of the "wrongs" in the games business. Currently, Heatwave only has a few employees, but we've already landed our first contract for a major client. What are these great games you ask? How about those wrongs? And can I really do anything about them?

I'll get to that. But first, let me give you a little context for what my life is like in this transition.

Codemasters & England. My family and I really are very sad to be leaving England so soon. We firmly expected to be there at least three years. We've had an amazing time. We've travelled all over the UK and parts of Europe. The kids have been exposed to a very different way of life, and as a family we've had to adapt to some pretty significant lifestyle changes (family of six with no car for 5 months...). The people at Codemasters are fantastic. Along with some great professional contacts, I've made what I hope are lifelong friends. In particular, the Codemasters Online Gaming (COG) division are an inspiring group of people, weathering very difficult conditions for a vision they believe in (not to mention holding up the banner for online gaming's "forgotten continent").

I'll miss you guys.

Heatwave & Austin. So, as of Friday, I've been phoneless and computerless. That's been rough. Particularly since I've been travelling quite a bit in the US. At the moment I'm in Austin, Texas doing a little house shopping and getting some fundamentals set up. Over the next month or so, I'll move the family and get into the groove with our new client. Also, we've got some corporate branding coming along, and of course a website (the current domain is purely a placeholder). I've got a great partner in a gentlemen named Donn Clendenon, who I've been working with "virtually" for a while. We've also got some very talented folks working with us on various parts of the business. I can't wait to tell you a little more about that in the near future. So far, it's been one of the coolest experiences of my creative/professional life.

Over the next week, I'll address the "rights" and "wrongs," the reason for choosing Austin as our base of operations, the motivations behind the name "Heatwave Interactive," and other various topics as they arise.

Anyway, this is just a quick update to say, I'm dead serious. I'm a man with a family of six with a good salary and I just quit my job. Serious coolness will result.

One last thing, I'm considering doing some "reality blogging" about what it's like to start a new company, or more specifically, a new game company. There are a lot of implications to consider, but very few people have an idea of what it's like to start a business, much less a game company. Am I crazy enough to let the Intarweb vote on our company logo? What about which game project we should do first? Is that pure insanity? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts about that.

Peace.

Posted by SunSword at 03:19 PM | Comments (1)

January 06, 2007

5 things you probably don't know about me

Well here it is. Five things you probably don't know about me...unless of course you are close family and/or friends. I'll make the assumption that all you know about me is that I've worked on various MMORPGs and I used to be pretty active in the online space.



  1. I was a child actor. In middle school, my mom's friend was taking her kid to a commercial try-out and invited mom along. She brought me. I did very well and was quickly signed by an agency, Holden and Holden I believe. I graduated from the Weiss-Barron School of acting. In the first year I did three nationally syndicated TV commercials for Showbiz Pizza Place, a couple of advertisment shoots, and some other smaller tidbits. I then began to try out for movies and I almost landed the very first one I tried out for, a little kids sci-fi movie called "The Explorers." I was called back three times! I so thought I had that part. In the end, the studio decided they wanted a less ethnic kid (I'll try to dig up some of my headshots from those days, but I was DEFINITELY the little brown kid with the fro.) They went with River Phoenix instead. I was crushed. At the same time, my agent was diagnosed with cancer. I turned away from the whole business, and my parents being good people, didn't pressure me at all. Looking back on it, I'm pretty happy. I mean I could've ended up like River. Of course, we're very different people, and based on #2, I doubt I would've been into the drug scene.


  2. I was sober until 2006. That's right folks. Although I've had a drink here and there, I'd never been truly intoxicated until this summer. Leave it to a bunch of mates from the UK, a business trip to South Korea and the wonderful libation known as Soju to end three decades of natural highs :). I'm still not much of a drinker, I suppose I'm a bit of a control freak in that regard. That said, when I visit Seoul, I favor the mixture referred to "100 years wine" over straight Soju. I suppose I always thought I'd be an angry drunk, and as Mr. Banner is fond of saying, "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry."


  3. I won 3 straight MC Hammer dance contests at West Texas State Band Camp. The "type writer" was my specialty, but man I could bust a move. Band camp you say? See the next item.


  4. I was President of the Band at Vines High School in Plano Texas. I played trombone and bass trombone from middle school on.


  5. I briefly had a radio show at the University of Texas radio station. I'd always wanted to have my own show (I did some voice-over work as well as the acting above). I was a freshman and the station producer blew me off when I showed up at the station asking for my own show. I kept pestering him and he finally said that if I could come up with the funds to underwrite my show, I could have a midnight slot. Much to his surprise I showed up a week later with my proposal for an R&B show called "Making Love... with Anthony" underwritten by a local business. I also won an award for best station ID.

Hmm...whom to ping?

I'll start with these two and move on from there...


Posted by SunSword at 12:41 PM | Comments (3)

December 29, 2006

WTF is with SunSword's Website?

I know, I almost never post. And when I do, it's either about family stuff you couldn't care less about or some boring alert related to work that you could've gotten off of a corporate news site or press release.

So, you ask, WTF? What happened to the guy who use to "tell it straight" and talk to the players like they were real people? What happened to the straight dope?

Ready for some honesty? Click to keep reading...

The first thing that happened? I worked my way up the corporate ladder to a point where my position was important enough that everything I said was under intense scrutiny, but I wasn't high enough on that ladder to be able to say what I wanted and survive.

Now, there are some people at the producer-level and up in the industry who really say what they think in their blogs, but I've found that the most active/interesting posts are by people who aren't directly responsible for the kinds of things they comment on.

Most of the really interesting blogs out there are by people who are independent of censorship, either because they're at the very top of their organizations, or because they aren't directly responsible (or aren't generally perceived to be) for the kinds of things they comment on.

And of course, some of the most popular and respected bloggers in the online game industry don't even deal in reality. Most of it is academic bullshit and spin. Which is understandable, because again, if people dealt in reality, they'd probably get censored by their organizations. Unfortunately, it means that most of the audience for this kind of material is having a very confused discussion fueled by misinformation, hype and guesswork.

The second cause of my silence is purely my availability. In the last 5 years I've had three kids, moved from Texas to California and from California to England. Life has been crazy, and I'm a family kinda guy, so I tend to prioritize family happiness over career and personal computing time. Those of you that have had kids know about the post-birth parental coma that lasts about 9 months. Those of you who haven't had kids have no idea what I'm talking about, really. I can't explain it, but I've been in it for about 4.5 years.

It is only in the last 48 hours that I've realized what a price I've paid for the hectic but amazing life I've been living. For the past 6 months, I've averaged about 5.5 hours of sleep a night. Since the holiday break, I've gotten 8-12 hours of sleep every night. I had no idea the toll lack of sleep and stress have been having on me. When I woke up on boxing day (the day after Christmas for my fellow Americans), I felt refreshed in a way that I honestly cannot recall.

It felt like waking from a dream that had lasted 6 months. All my ambition and energy returned in a rush. I realized that despite myriad crazy/cool things I've done in the last few years, I've been treading water professionally and creatively.

What the hell? It's about to be 2007? People are still rehashing the same ol' MMORPG format? Shit is about to change y'all.

So what does that mean in reference to this post? Well, sunsword.com is going to change quite a bit. I'm going to separate the personal from the professional. I'm also going to take a new tact with the professional, to be revealed in January. I'm also considering bringing the forums back, let me know what you think about that. I found forums to be a more satisfying, interactive experience than blogs and comments.

On a personal note, I'm also going to start prioritize sleep. And on that note, see you in the AM.

Posted by SunSword at 12:41 AM | Comments (0)

January 04, 2006

I think I just woke up the entire Warwick Hilton

vinceyoung.png

Texas 41. USC 38. Texas is the BSC National Champion! Hook 'em!

It's after 5AM and thank God Kim got me that Slingbox!!!

Posted by SunSword at 09:29 PM | Comments (0)

December 31, 2005

Happy New Year!

Well, here we go. As per tradtion, I was watching "Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year" and I couldn't help but notice t hat Maria Carey looks pretty darned good with a little extra on her.

Anyway, it's going to be a heck of a year for my family as we move to a new country. New Year's resolutions to come...

I've also dug up a bunch of old photos as we've begun the move preparations. I'm sure some of them will be great laughs for you guys.

Posted by SunSword at 11:58 PM | Comments (0)

September 16, 2005

???

Pretty much describes my life right now.

Too much going on. I think I'm just along for the ride.

Any great name suggestions for my first son?

Posted by SunSword at 01:19 AM

July 31, 2005

Where is SunSword?

Yes, I haven't updated my blog in a while and my forums are still down.

Why?

Well, for one thing, I'm working on a project at work that I can't talk about, and while I can say it's going quite well, that's about all I can say. The complex nature of this particular undertaking has kept me pretty out of touch with UO too. So, unfortunately, I haven't really been able to talk about that either.

The writer's group I started with some folks from work goes pretty well, we meet every Tuesday to read each other's work.

And of course, we're only about 6 weeks from baby number 3, and that's another big reason I haven't had time to post here...lots of preparation to do.

So, while I'd like to jump into some of the conversations going on in blog world, or comment on some of the industry news...I just don't have time.

So, until the PSP 2.0 firmware arrives and I have time to review it, or until I can actually talk about work, this site is going to continue to be a ghost town. :\

Posted by SunSword at 02:15 PM | Comments (0)

January 01, 2005

Damned Skippy

Rosebowl final
Texas 38
Michigan 37


Them's mah boys. I wish I were in Austin tonight! Finally, Brown proves he can win the big game.


Hook 'em!

Posted by SunSword at 05:53 PM | Comments (4)

November 23, 2004

Family First

Trinity had solid food for the first time on Sunday! It's some kind of rice that I would describe as gruel. She had it again today and seemed to really like it!

Araceli has had a cold for the last week and really hasn't been herself...

Tomorrow is the end of the week at work! Yay. Although, that's pretty stressful given the amount of work we have to do...

Posted by SunSword at 12:24 AM | Comments (0)

November 10, 2004

Another Araceli Milestone

Well, we finally got new carpet installed in Araceli's room, but I had to take apart her crib to get it out of the room.

The crib is very deep, so she could still sleep in it, but we asked her if she wanted us to convert it into a toddler bed, and she said Yes!

So lastnight, Araceli slept in her own real bed for the first time, with no problems. *sniffle*.

The bed is nice and has a guard rail...which makes it a little tough for her to get out of, but she manages. Of course, she was so excited at first that she jumped up and down in the bed until she fell out.

But she slept all night with no problems!

It's a good thing we have another baby, they grow up too fast :(.

Posted by SunSword at 09:35 PM | Comments (0)

November 05, 2004

HD == Good

So, I've had a neat-o HD ready TV for about 6 months now, and for whatever reason, I just wasn't up to getting a dish in this rental home, but finally, the cable service out here offers HD.

I have rediscovered my HD. I haven't watched this many episodes of "Nature" in years. Wow. HD is a more significant improvement on TV than I expected...almost as big as TiVo. I could tell you about my install nightmares...but I'll spare you. Suffice to say, if you have a Samsung DLP and the motorola cable HD, go into the cable service menu and turn the SD signal override to "Off."

Posted by SunSword at 11:53 PM | Comments (0)

October 15, 2004

I'm going back to cali...(again)

Well, I'm sitting in the United terminal in Narita, getting ready to head back to my home, and my family, whom I've missed a great deal. I doubt if Trinity will even recognize me...

This trip has been extremely productive from both a work and personal standpoint. I learned a hell of a lot about China in general and Shanghai specifically. Shanghai is an amazing place going through an amazing time of growth and opportunity. China Joy was an eye opener in terms of how online games are percieved so differently than they are in the "western world" or even Japan. It felt a lot like the mid-90's did in America. And it was very nice to know that UO is not only recognized there, but almost revered, even though it was never formally launched there, it was the first only game to become popular in China...

And I suppose that's the amazing thing about UO...it has this universal appeal that crosses cultural and geographical boundaries with disarming ease.

I look forward to going back to China one day.

Japan was a huge success in terms of promoting UO, but also in reconnecting with the Japanese UO team. They are such dedicated people, and I'd forgotten what a difference face-to-face meetings make. The 4 hours of being unable to sit in a Samurai Kimono and 5 hours of grueling back-to-back interviews weren't exactly "fun" per-se, but they got the job done. UO will remain the best selling online PC game in Japan, even in the face of stiff competition from Final Fantasy and soon Star Wars Galaxies. I've got a huge list of things to accomplish when I get back to work, but the team seems to be doing well without me. I'm returning with a a renewed focus on next year's work.

Oh, and if you thought my Samurai photo-op was embarrassing, just be glad you didn't hear me Karaoke last night. Oh yeah, John LeCraft and I singing Olivia Newton John....yikes.

So, I'll leave Japan at 4PM and arrive in California 9 hours later, but 5 hours earlier. Neat-o.

Kim kept me sane on this trip by sending me pictures of the girls, some just everyday pictures, and some from their trip to the zoo. I can't believe I left you guys for 2 weeks.

See you on the other side!

Posted by SunSword at 11:08 PM | Comments (0)

September 15, 2004

Pictures of Trinity (and Araceli too!)

Sorry, I did this quickly.

Posted by SunSword at 11:40 PM | Comments (0)

September 13, 2004

"I love you da-da."

So on Thursday I left England at around 11am-ish and 10 hours later arrived in San Fran at about 2PM-ish. It was a good flight, I got bumped up to 1st class, which was somewhat nifty. I managed not to watch any of the movies I knew Kim would want to watch with me (I'm a very considerate hubby, you see). Which left me with "13 going on 30" and the latest Harry Potter movie. Technically, Kim would have wanted to watch it with me, but I honestly thought I'd seen it when it started. I kept saying to myself, I don't remember this. The haze of the previous movies and the books prevented me from realizing that I hadn't seen this one until about 20 minutes in. By then it was too late. Anyway, on to the point of this blog...

Kim picked us up at the airport and when I got home, I broke out the gifts. Araceli got 4 airplane magnets and a teddybear in a pink flightsuit (complete with WWII-era goggles). Kim got some perfume. Trinity kisses from me, which I'm sure she appreciates as much as anything else at this point.

Araceli has always liked planes, and when Kim told her I was on an airplane, it was one of the only things she talked to me about while I was gone. Anyway, I had crashed out on the couch after giving out various gifts and listening to Kim help Araceli put the magnets on the fridge. Then I heard Kim whisper "Go tell da-da thank you."

I listened to Araceli trot around the the counter over to the couch until she came into view. She climbed up onto the couch, gave me a hug and whispered (because her mom whispered it) "Thanks dada." I said "No problem, honey" and gave her a big hug. She hopped down from the couch and cantered out of view, only to come back a second later, lean around the edge of the couch and say "I love you, dada" only to quickly disappear again.

Sept 9th, 2004. My 2 year old daughter tells me she loves me for the first time of her own accord.

Posted by SunSword at 12:01 AM | Comments (0)

August 01, 2004

I've got that icky feeling...

I don't know about the rest of you, but when I get about halfway through a really good book, I get this sick feeling in my stomach in anticipation of reaching the end. I hate finishing good books, particularly when it's a book by an author I've never read before.

Such is the case with Tigana, by Guy Gavriel Kay. I've actually finished it now, and it was the most satisfying literary experience I've had in years. The man has mastered the English language, and can tell a story to boot! Many thanks to Raph for telling me about this author a few years ago, it took me a while to track him down, but I'm definitely reading all the rest of them now. Kim handed me The Lions of Al-Rassan this evening, I'm going to avoid it for a few days, just because Tigana was so engrossing. I can only afford to be that pre-occupied on occasion.

In other news, Kim and I are playing Co-op through The Return of the King. Not much to say other than we've had to check walk-thrus TWICE.

Thanks to you nasty porn-bot spammers, comments are now directed to my forums!

Posted by SunSword at 11:07 PM | Comments (0)

July 25, 2004

bye-bye comments

Well, thanks to the porn spammers of the world, I won't be using the commenting system provided by movabletype anymore. I'll have to do it hte hard way and link everything to the forums where you have to register to comment first. Dear Internet gods, thanks a bunch.

Posted by SunSword at 10:48 AM | Comments (0)

July 21, 2004

Update?

I'm in Encino today for some focus groups. I'm going to get more pictures of Trinity posted this weekend (and Araceli too)!

Posted by SunSword at 02:01 PM | Comments (0)

July 02, 2004

I did it!

I managed to stay away from work for 1 whole day during my week of paternal leave.

Posted by SunSword at 06:41 PM | Comments (2)

June 29, 2004

Meeting went well

perhaps now I can rest with my family for a while...

Posted by SunSword at 01:18 AM | Comments (0)

June 27, 2004

I'm all over the place...

Apparently, it's not enought to have just moved to California and become a father for the second time...I keep finding myself pre-occupied with a variety of other things...

I have three ideas for novels which I actually think are pretty good (I've always got ideas, but they rarely strike me as good). Two are sci-fi and one is fantasy. I have no time at all to work on these, so instead I just blurt out plot ideas and scenes to Kimberly in the hopes that she'll help me remember when I DO have time. I'd actually written some of one of them, and tOAD and I began to collaborate, but then work interrupted and we never got back to it.

I finished the first book in a new series by Margaret Weis. Disappointing. Since then, I've been plowing through Asimov's "Foundation" series whenever I have the opportunity. Honestly, I'm not enjoying it much, but it's a gaping hole in my "conquered book" list. I'm half-way through "Second Foundation." I suppose the best thing I'm garnering from it is how difficult it can be to create identities that are distinct and interesting when you write about centuries at a time.

I've also been reading a non-fiction book called Mind Wide Open, which is so far facinating, but because I've taken it to work, I really have made much progress on it.

And of course, I have several different game-related ideas all vying for mind-share beyond my primary concern, UO.

Not to mention that I have a "big meeting" at work tomorrow, and I'm still working on some of the materials, except I'm writing this. Oh, and I'm on "paternal leave."

Oh, I forgot to mention the constant day-dreaming about lifting. That's just a constant background noise.

And I have some other things I can't stop thinking about regarding religion and purpose, but I'm not sure I'm ready to dive into that in a public forum either.

Y'know, why do I even have a blog if I'm never actually going to TALK about anything? :)

Posted by SunSword at 10:31 PM | Comments (1)

May 30, 2004

I have new speakers

They are very heavy. They are very pretty. They sound good.

Boy do my R&B tracks sound swell now. I'd say more, but it's embarassing.

Posted by SunSword at 01:17 AM | Comments (1)

May 27, 2004

I guess I use her nickname a lot...

This is what it sounds like when Araceli (our 2 year old) can't get her mom's attention...

Araceli: "Mama?"
Kim: ...

Araceli: "MAMA?"
Kim: ...

Araceli: "MAMA!!"
Kim: ...

Araceli: Honey?
Kim: *giggling*

Araceli: HONEY?
Kim: *more giggling*

Araceli: HONEY!!
Kim: WHAT?

Posted by SunSword at 10:04 PM | Comments (0)

Holy CRAP! I have a blog!

I guess I should use it, huh?

Posted by SunSword at 08:32 PM | Comments (0)

May 09, 2004

We went to the movies!

For Mother's Day, we took Kim to the movies (a rare treat these days). Kim found a drive-in theater in San Jose, so we drove out and saw Van Helsing (sp?).

The good:

A) Campy monster fun
B) Corsets
C) Pretty good CG (from what I could see)

The bad:

A) Almost too campy
B) Probably the worst movie selection for an outdoor theater because the film is sooo dark.
C) Araceli kept sneaking sips of my cherry coke. She's never going to sleep.

In other news, I've recovered easily from the teeth extractions. No bone spurs or dry sockets, thank goodness. And I've made a few selections for the home theater thingy...

I purchased the Samsung DVD-HD931 because it has DVI out. After watching "Finding Nemo" for the millionth time with Araceli, I was able to see obvious improvements from the previous DVD player. Most noticable, in the opening seen with Nemo's mom and dad, the old player always had "halos" around the fish when the dark blue sea of the drop off was in the background. No halos with the new player.

I also ordered a pair of speakers for the front left and right. For a reciever, I'm seriously considering the Panasonic XR-45. I've never had a digital reciever, but I only hear good things.

Posted by SunSword at 11:50 PM | Comments (0)

May 03, 2004

Oh yeah...interesting week

While I'm updating my blog in the middle of the night...

I had my first wisdom tooth removed. I knew something was wrong a couple of months ago, but with the move and all, I waited until I got to CA to see the dentist about it. The wisdom tooth had come in sideways and taken out a molar. Ow. The Dentist had to take them both out. But it was pretty easy, I got to watch The Matrix while they yanked away. I went back to work afterwards, and even though I filled the heavy drug perscription, I've only needed some Tylenol. Why are people so scared of the dentist! I got to see a movie during the middle of work hours!

And we've started moving into our new home. We found a house to lease not 5 minutes from work in Redwood Shores (really Redwood City). We're mostly moved in, and hopefully tomorrow will be the last major push...did I mention I hate moving? Especially with a pregnant wife and -2 teeth?

Posted by SunSword at 04:56 AM | Comments (3)

April 25, 2004

Araceli turned 2 today!

Although it seems like she's been 2 for nine months ;).

Yesterday, we took her to the beach at Half Moon Bay. It was 10 degrees cooler than Redwood Shores, which is a phenomenon I'd been cautioned about. The beach was pretty much fogged in, but there were tons of people out anyway. Araceli had a great time and met a couple other kids. Pictures when I get the rest of my computer equipment out of storage.

Today, we went to Lemo's farm and petting zoo. Araceli got to ride a pony, take a train ride, and pet some goats. Again, pictures when I can ;).

Posted by SunSword at 09:38 PM | Comments (2)

April 17, 2004

My poor forsaken blog...

Well, in case you're wondering, yes, I'm in California. We're in corporate housing right down the street from my office. It sucks. We're on the 3 floor, with no elevator, which isn't really a problem for me, but for my poor wife who is now *very* pregnant, and our 2 year old, it's really annoying.

On the other hand, work has been pretty good this week. The transition has gone as smoothly as one can expect, and I've got some fantastic new teammates.

I only have about 2 seconds to post, so I thought I'd just say "Hi. We made it. The Grand Canyon was amazing. I'll post pictures when I get around to it (yeah right)."

Posted by SunSword at 12:16 AM | Comments (4)

March 15, 2004

My Virtual Social Life

So...I now have over 100 friends listed on Orkut. My wife is already irritated by the amount of time I spend reading the community groups and searching for friends I haven't linked to yet. My social life has degenerated to point and click. Yes, I realize that as milestones go, it's pathetic, but there it is.

Are you on my list?? If not, you should be!

Posted by SunSword at 09:34 PM | Comments (5)

A blessing becomes a curse

When Kim and I built the house we're in now, we were so excited. It's a fairly large house, but the best thing is that it's on a pretty large piece of property on a cul-de-sac. The back yard is expansive, and the gate exits into a park and playground.

However, this also means lots of maintenance. Unfortunately, while I was pre-occupied with keeping the team that develops a certain game intact, spring crept up on me and my yard has sprouted weeds. It's been raining for the last few days, but it finally cleared up this morning. So I spent the afternoon doing yardwork. Honestly, it was good to do something totally unrelated to computers or my real job for a while. I only hope I can find the time to get this place in shape in time.

Kim's pregancy has progressed to the "difficult to pick anything up" phase. That includes small children and toys... :\

Posted by SunSword at 12:40 AM | Comments (0)

March 04, 2004

Fight fire with fire?

Occasionally, someone forwards an email to me that's actually worth reading. This one made me chuckle. I don't know who to credit.

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The Presidential Prayer Team is urging us to "Pray for the President as he seeks wisdom to legally codify the definition of marriage. Pray that it will be according to Biblical principles. With many forces insisting on variant definitions of marriage, pray that God's Word and His standards will be honored by our government."

In support of the Prayer Team's goals, here is a proposed Constitutional Amendment codifying marriage entirely on biblical principles:

A. Marriage in the United States shall consist of a union between one man and one or more women (Genesis 29:17-28; II Samuel 3:2-5).

B. Marriage shall not impede a man's right to take concubines in addition to his wife or wives (II Samuel 5:13; I Kings 11:3; II Chronicles 11:21).

C. Marriage shall be valid only if the wife is a virgin. If the wife is not a virgin, she shall be executed by stoning. (Deuteronomy 22:13-21).

D. Marriage of a believer and a nonbeliever shall be forbidden (Genesis 24:3; Numbers 25:1-9; Ezra 9:12; Nehemiah 10:30).

E. Since marriage is for life, no state or federal law shall permit divorce. (Deuteronomy 22:19; Mark 10:9).

F. If a married man dies childless, his brother shall marry the widow. If he refuses to marry his brother's widow or deliberately does not give her children, he shall pay a fine of one shoe and be otherwise punished in a manner to be determined by law (Genesis 38:6-10; Deuteronomy 25:5-10).

G. If there are no marriageable men in a young woman's town, she must get her father drunk and have sex with him (even if he previously offered her to men as a sex toy), tag-teaming with any sisters she may have (Genesis
19:31-36).

If you have other Biblical injunctions to add to this list, please share them with the Presidential Prayer Team: http://www.presidentialprayerteam.org

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Have a nice day. =)

Posted by SunSword at 01:26 AM | Comments (3)

February 29, 2004

A day of eating adventures

Today, Araceli and I had a lunch date. Kim was pretty tired today and so I spent most of they morning playing with Araceli, which was a blast. We made pancakes (pa-keeks!) and built numerous staircases out of blocks.

At lunch time, I decided to take her to my favorite Sunday lunch...LUCKY DOG. Gotta have some Lucky Dog. Now, for you Austin folks, it's important to know that all Lucky Dogs are not created equally. The one up North (formely in Pflugerville, but now off of I-35 in Roundrock) has added Pizza and Gyros to the menu, and they're open on Sundays now.

Anyway, I tossed on some street clothes, got her all gussied up, and headed out. After ordering my food, I patted my pocket only to notice...no wallet. Damn! So I told the people behind me to go ahead, and went back out to the car. After searching for a while, I found that Kim keeps a check in the diaper bag. Hmm worth a try, eh? I went BACK inside and asked if they would take a check. They guy behind the counter wasn't one of the owners, and said that they don't take checks. So, I started back out to the car (remember, toddler in tow the whole time) and someone said "Well, what the heck, I'll take a check!" The couple that had initially been behind us in line were graicious enough to pay for us at the counter and let me write them a personal check.

That was really nice. I hope folks are that friendly in California. Oh, I got chicken fingers for Araceli, and I must say, they were great. I've never had a less-than-great meal at Lucky Dog "North."

Second restaurant story. We met my good friend Todd Bailey (http://www.sunsword.com/toad) for dinner at the "Wings n' More" near his home. Total crap. Not your fault Todd! I ordered some wings n' ribs. I wish I hadn't. The only thing decent there were the curly fries and the Dr. Pepper. Oh, and the fried appetizers. The wings, garlic/parmesan wings, garlic bread, and ribs were some of the worst restaurant food I've had in a long time. Oh well, live and learn.

And that's my eating adventure.

Posted by SunSword at 10:25 PM | Comments (2)

February 14, 2004

What's wrong with this picture?

No, it's not the giant snowflake on my face!!!

It's snowing in Austin! Holy cr4p!

This is the first snowman I've made since I was, oh say 12 years old. I'm just sad that it happened too late at night for Araceli to see it. :\

But since we're on the subject. Here's me with said snowman:

And here's the little girl who missed it:

Have a snow day!

Posted by SunSword at 03:02 AM | Comments (0)

January 18, 2004

Time Warp

Well, my life has been amazingly busy for the past few months. Full of overtime, quick trips out of state, and as much family time as I can muster.

I'm still running and raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, but I've had to ratchet back to the 1/2 marathon. I under estimated the amount of time I would have to train for the full marathon, and of course, when I started, I didn't know my wife was pregnant.

I finally got around to setting up the paypal donation system for those of you that would like to donate online. I'm going to do one test donation and when I'm sure it works, I'll pop it up here.

Anyway, I noticed that I hadn't posted in a while, so I figured I'd give an update. I can't imagine being any more busy at work than I am right now, but I know it's only going to get crazier as the year progresses. Hopefully we can start talking about it soon.

Posted by SunSword at 03:12 PM | Comments (1)

December 08, 2003

While I'm feeling geeky...

You are Agent Smith-
You are Agent Smith, from "The Matrix."
No one would ever want to run into you in a
dark alley. Cold as steel, tough as a rock,
things are your way or the highway.


What Matrix Persona Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Posted by SunSword at 11:53 PM | Comments (0)

Return of 70's sci-fi

I TiVo'd the premier of Battle Star Galactica today. Okay, I'm a geek. I rather enjoyed it. I particularly enjoyed the decision to have the space scenes run with little sound, and for the semi-realistic flight models. Okay, I'm a sucker. Thank goodness this came along, I was tired of scanning re-runs of Stargate SG-1.

Posted by SunSword at 11:37 PM | Comments (0)

November 08, 2003

Food poisoning?

When I woke up this morning, I was very ill. Physically ill. I'd forgotten how much that sucks. But, no fever, no cough, and no congestion. I went back to bed after informing the office that I would be out sick. I slept in until my wife woke me up in the afternoon to homemade chicken soup! It was fantastic.

I also found that a very important candidate accepted the offer I made to him today.

So, I suppose I feel better this evening, but I guess I'm going to have to reconsider eating Taco Cabana on a regular basis :\.

I don't think I'm well enough to run 13 miles in the morning, so I'm going to take it easy and do 5 in the afternoon. I'll get back on track during the week.

Posted by SunSword at 12:33 AM | Comments (2)

November 06, 2003

Been a while since I've posted

Yesterday, I got to see the new baby for the first time! 3D Ultrasounds rule.

Even though this is the second one, I was still amazed to see that heart pumping furiously away. Awesome.

Running update on Saturday...

Posted by SunSword at 11:15 AM | Comments (0)

October 25, 2003

Halloween preps and baby delights

We're building a bunch of props for our halloween party on Saturday. Buncha shopping today, which normally I'm not a big fan of, but today wasn't so bad. Last thing we did was pick up a few "heads" from a beauty supply store (to put monster masks on) and a I got a wireless X-box controller (pelican). I chose the pelican over the logitech purely over price. The logitech at $60.00 was $20.00 more!

After the shopping, I took Araceli to the park behind our house and taught her a few things. Btw - Today, she is officially 18 months.

First, I taught her how to roll down a grassy hill. Now that was fun. I haven't done that in 10 years. It was also good practice for her to walk up and down steep slopes.

Then, I taught her how to hit a t-ball. Also, gobs of fun. She's not particularly good at it, but it's fun to watch her swing the bat and count "Waaaan. Tooooo. TreeeeEEEE!!!!!" She then swings the oversized bat overhead like she's chopping lumber and bats the ball straight down. This is followed by a squeal of glee and her scampering after the ball. Mmm. It's good to be a dad. And guess what? I think I'm gonna be a dad again!

How can I possibly love 2 as much as 1? =D

Posted by SunSword at 07:23 PM | Comments (0)

October 23, 2003

What a week

Why is it that every time I go out of town on business, my site goes kaput? I'm going to pay special attention next time.

I was in Red Wood Shores for the past 2 days getting some "training." Both of my flights were at the crack of dawn, so I'm pretty pooped. Nothing like getting up at 5:30 in the morning, just to drive 30 minutes and jump on a 3+ hour flight. :\

The hotel I stay at likes me very much these days. The french accents irriate me, but the perks are nice. They had wireless in the lobby and so on the second night, I had dinner in the hotel and geeked out with my new Dell Axiom (with wifi of course). And wouldn't you know it? Two other employees sat down next to me. Luckily, I wasn't shunned for my geekiness. They were IT guys. One of them even put ministumbler on it while I wasn't looking.

Oh, and I ran 4 miles lastnight. Neat-o!

Posted by SunSword at 09:29 PM | Comments (0)

October 20, 2003

I guess I'm a baller now.

Good day today!

First, the house is reasonbly clean when I woke up.

Second, the Cowboys are officially an "ok" football team again. Thank the gaming gods! Being a hardcore fan of the 'boys has been pretty rough the last few years.

Third, the fellas came over today. We were supposed to play some D&D, but a few people didn't show. We goofed off doing everything from making lunch to messing with my wireless network. Eventually, we found ourselves out in the park behind my house playing some pick-up games with some other men from the neighborhood. Now, I've never played much bball, so I was admittedly a little nervous at first. But in the first game, my 2 consecutive hoops brought us even with the opposing team, and we ended up winning. Go me.

I only played 1 game, because I was cautious about working out too hard after yesterday's run. In the second game, someone wrenched his knee pretty hard, and I felt like I had made the right decision. I would really hate to pull something and do all this training without being able to do the event.

Then we ended up back in the house playing NBA Live 2004. Great game, and yes, I am talking about a product my company makes. We ended up the day at a Mexican buffet. Now what could be better? :)

Posted by SunSword at 12:45 AM | Comments (0)